Trailer- clamp, hitch cover ?

[holeymoley]

What do you use to secure the theft of your trailer? I'm aware only certain things are covered by insurance. What do you use? Personally think a clamp to the rear wheel could be 'okay' as I've heard stories of any type of trailer being stolen by being lifted at the hitch (regardless of being coupled )and wheeled out using the rear wheels.

Apologies for bad grammar and punctuation, phone is being quite jumpy.

 

[Rowreach]

Following with interest as my trailer is going to have to come and live on my driveway soon, and I don't think its current hitchlock arrangement will be sufficient.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Bulldog wheelclamp to a rear wheel plus hitchlock.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Like TP bulldog wheel clamp to rear wheel.

 

[Leo Walker]

Yup same here. Hitch lock and wheel clamp. I've not quite finished mine so have left it unpainted on the outside, left it sitting on old flat tyres and left the jockey wheel off. Its a Bahill so not a popular make anyway and by doing that it just looks like a heap of junk, so hopefully its safe! wont be practical for when I start using it though! :lol:

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Securing your box or trailer
1. hitch ball lock

2 wheel clamp

3, take all wheel nuts off

4. post code the roof

5 post code the outside of the trailers ( if you have hoof brands they can do this )

6. fit a tracker to it

7 fit one of those rods in the ground with paddolk so they cant get it out

8 wedge it in behind field machinery

9 if at home park your car in front of it

10 put your postcode on the underside of the floor

11 take wheels off

12 put graphics on it so more obvious

13 paint a sign saying your license plate and if anything else is towing it its stolen

Make your vehicle easily recognisable, this increases the chances of somebody spotting and remembering your vehicle. Vinyl letters on the roof or writing on the side of the vehicle can both prove effective. Note: logos and branding on the side of a horsebox can suggest that your vehicle is used commercially (i.e. sponsorship or similar), which could expose you to EU Driver legislation, so think carefully about what you place on the vehicle.


Anti-theft/intruder alarm

You can use anything from a standard car alarm to more sophisticated wireless devices offering greater coverage of the whole vehicle. Once again, check with your insurance provider before purchase and installation as certain alarms might result in lower insurance premiums.

Tracking device

A tracking device or ‘tracker’ will emit a signal that can be picked up by the police, with the more sophisticated systems being traced by satellite, making it much more likely that your vehicle can be located and recovered successfully.

Isolator Switch



These are becoming commonplace on horseboxes, not just as anti-theft devices, but also for preserving battery life and power. Via a simple key type mechanism, an isolator effectively disconnects the battery from all power sapping devices after use, e.g. the tachograph. Removal of this key then prevents the thief from connecting the power and starting the vehicle.

Secure parking

At an event or when at home, it is important that you park your vehicle as securely as possible. The following all prove useful deterrents:
Locking your vehicle
Security lights
T-posts
Alarms
Security cameras
Securely fastened gates


TRAILERS/Lorries/Field Equipment

Postcode the roof and get metalwork marked with a postcode.
Make sure wheel clamps are of good quality and have a high security rating, a few more pounds spent here could make a difference. - Fit clamps to the back wheels to prevent any towing if they can’t get it off.
Fit a hitch lock to trailers as an added deterrent if they don’t already have one.
Consider using an old mobile together with a company that provides mobile tracking, so your vehicle can be recovered if taken, or there are tracking devices.
There are also other types of marking that you can use like the microdots, tiny chips that you can scatter all over the vehicle. Mark the vehicle on the outside to let would be thieves know if you do this!
Don’t forget your yard trailer and equipment as well if you need it for hay etc paint on the postcode!
You can also use locking parking type barriers to block a trailer being moved or chain the axle of the trailer to a well secured post.
Take pictures of the vehicle
Make a note of all serial numbers and keep it to hand.

This is all the info I have personally gathered over the years of having trailer and 3 horse boxes and friends with trailers/ livery horses.

 

[Rowreach]

Securing your box or trailer
1. hitch ball lock

2 wheel clamp

3, take all wheel nuts off

4. post code the roof

5 post code the outside of the trailers ( if you have hoof brands they can do this )

6. fit a tracker to it

7 fit one of those rods in the ground with paddolk so they cant get it out

8 wedge it in behind field machinery

9 if at home park your car in front of it

10 put your postcode on the underside of the floor

11 take wheels off

12 put graphics on it so more obvious

13 paint a sign saying your license plate and if anything else is towing it its stolen

Make your vehicle easily recognisable, this increases the chances of somebody spotting and remembering your vehicle. Vinyl letters on the roof or writing on the side of the vehicle can both prove effective. Note: logos and branding on the side of a horsebox can suggest that your vehicle is used commercially (i.e. sponsorship or similar), which could expose you to EU Driver legislation, so think carefully about what you place on the vehicle.


Anti-theft/intruder alarm

You can use anything from a standard car alarm to more sophisticated wireless devices offering greater coverage of the whole vehicle. Once again, check with your insurance provider before purchase and installation as certain alarms might result in lower insurance premiums.

Tracking device

A tracking device or ‘tracker’ will emit a signal that can be picked up by the police, with the more sophisticated systems being traced by satellite, making it much more likely that your vehicle can be located and recovered successfully.

Isolator Switch



These are becoming commonplace on horseboxes, not just as anti-theft devices, but also for preserving battery life and power. Via a simple key type mechanism, an isolator effectively disconnects the battery from all power sapping devices after use, e.g. the tachograph. Removal of this key then prevents the thief from connecting the power and starting the vehicle.

Secure parking

At an event or when at home, it is important that you park your vehicle as securely as possible. The following all prove useful deterrents:
Locking your vehicle
Security lights
T-posts
Alarms
Security cameras
Securely fastened gates


TRAILERS/Lorries/Field Equipment

Postcode the roof and get metalwork marked with a postcode.
Make sure wheel clamps are of good quality and have a high security rating, a few more pounds spent here could make a difference. - Fit clamps to the back wheels to prevent any towing if they can’t get it off.
Fit a hitch lock to trailers as an added deterrent if they don’t already have one.
Consider using an old mobile together with a company that provides mobile tracking, so your vehicle can be recovered if taken, or there are tracking devices.
There are also other types of marking that you can use like the microdots, tiny chips that you can scatter all over the vehicle. Mark the vehicle on the outside to let would be thieves know if you do this!
Don’t forget your yard trailer and equipment as well if you need it for hay etc paint on the postcode!
You can also use locking parking type barriers to block a trailer being moved or chain the axle of the trailer to a well secured post.
Take pictures of the vehicle
Make a note of all serial numbers and keep it to hand.

This is all the info I have personally gathered over the years of having trailer and 3 horse boxes and friends with trailers/ livery horses.

Fantastic if you never ever want to go anywhere with the trailer!

In this particular county we have a trailer marking theft prevention scheme run by the PSNI and only costs about a fiver. They have regular marking days where you can have your trailer painted with a large indelible yellow code which is exclusive to your trailer, which is then registered on their system. You then use a Sharpie or similar to write the code in another ten or so places all over the inside of the trailer, on the inside of the door, all sorts of places that are not obvious so anyone nicking it is unlikely to find and remove them all.

Since they've been running the scheme, only one marked trailer has been stolen, and that one was recovered pretty quickly.

 

[holeymoley]

Thank you for your replies, I didn't think there were so many ways! That's really an eye opener. It's now in my driveway as no space for it at the yard- we had some shifty looking men round trying to sell windows the other day so just made me think again. Really like that idea of the PsNI, sounds really effective.

 

[Suechoccy]

My trailer has horses painted on the side panels. I can't upload images to my thread for some reason but if you go to my webpage, to the Gallery and click ReadMore, the top picture (BayHorseRearing) is the most recent one I've done, and on the other side is BlueHorse.

http://www.suerogersartist.co.uk